Let's face it: Arizona isn't exactly prime real estate for music festivals. Yes, we have the party-hard atmosphere of Country Thunder and the locally beloved McDowell Mountain Music Fest, the EDM-drenched Soundwave and some killer jazz fests. But our fair desert doesn't yet have the appeal or pull of such festivals as Lollapalooza, Orion, Coachella, South by Southwest, Austin City Limits, Electric Daisy, Bonnaroo, Outside Lands--the list goes on.

For the avid music fan on a tight budget and unforgiving economy, deciding which festivals (if any) to travel to can be a frustrating experience. I myself encountered this same conundrum for 2013. Which music festivals was I going to budget for? How many days would I forgo the grocery store and live off canned soup and well whiskey? And sometimes, even if you do budget well for a festival, it's difficult to take into account unforeseen costs once you are already there: Cabs and rental cars, food, drinks, even water on-site.

Take SXSW, for example. The difficult-to-book flights to Austin, hundreds of dollars a night hotel rooms (even for the dinky ones), and days' worth of food and drinks. Ditto for Coachella and Lollapalooza. Thus I decided to compile some tips and tricks to survive festivals on a budget for all you other awesome music lovers out there--so read on and then book away.

Most of the people we met on the S.S. Coachella had never been on a cruise before. Like us, they weren't so sure what to pack or how to dress for three days of awkwardly saying hi to their favorite bands on a floating building at sea. But, like the festival, the fans also brought their desert style to cruisin' with mixed results.

We could sit here and talk about all the "types" of people who sailed out to Nassau, but really, we'd rather just show you. These are the most memorable fashion moments we caught on the maiden voyage of the S.S. Coachella. Get your eyebrows ready to raise.

No one's really interested in reading about the actual performances taking place on this musical ship of contradictions, the S.S. Coachella, amirite? Instead, you want a spoonful of gossipy anecdotal sugar, straight from the decks of this funny ship.

As you might have seen, Pulp was the largest name at the top of the S.S. Coachella flyer. The band played almost two power hours on Sunday night, making cruisers swoon with Anglophilic adoration. But Jarvis Cocker -- the man whose name was being whispered all around the ship -- didn't sit in his room or hide out like James Murphy (the chupacabra of the boat, whom I have only spotted offstage).

Fashion and music are the funniest-looking twin sisters. They're always together, always kinda sloppy. Sometimes they dress up like a swan or wear a big mouse head. Together, they're always looking to make a bold statement.

If you follow Sleigh Bells' Alexis Krauss on Instagram (@KraussingAround), you know what she's trying to say through fashion these days: It's all about your nails, girl.

The S.S. Coachella set out to sea rather unceremoniously. There weren't horns, not a streamer in sight, and no one smashed bottles against the body of the ship.

But we'd all been aboard the Celebrity Silhouette for about four hours at that point, and Father John Misty was launching our oceanic musical journey in the Sky Lounge. A 180-degree view of the sea spread in front of us, and a group of maybe 100 music fans with stars in their eyes didn't even notice where we were as the shore lights faded away.